In stock
2 LP + CD
MACIUNAS ENSEMBLE
“YoplaBoum + Permanent Wave”
Third release by the Maciunas Ensemble on Edition Telemark after 1976 (2015) and the self-titled 50th anniversary LP from 2018. The group had been founded in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, in 1968 with the aim of realizing the score "Music for Everyman" by Fluxus initiator George Maciunas, which they interpreted as allowing total freedom in the sounds being produced. The group met regularly, usually once a week during their heyday, and improvised on instruments that were at hand. Every session was recorded to be played back and discussed before the next session. This method meant that small changes and subtle new ideas could be integrated from one session to the next, eventually leading into completely new directions over a longer course. Paul Panhuysen linked this approach to the oral traditions of folk music.
One of their most productive periods were the early 1980s where, after settling on a stable line-up of Paul Panhuysen, Jan van Riet, Leon van Noorden and Mario van Horrik, the group developed their own brand of minimalist rhythmic music, inspired in equal parts by rock, post-punk, drone and minimal music of the time. A selection of named pieces had crystallized from the improvised sessions that were worked on and refined, many of them having long durations and featuring wordless vocals by Paul Panhuysen that added another unique rhythmic layer to the music. Phill Niblock, while visiting the ensemble's home base Het Apollohuis in Eindhoven, called some of these pieces "rhythmic drones", drones produced by repetitive rhythmic strokes, simultaneously on various instruments. Some recordings from this period can be heard on the LP "Music for Everyman 861" (released in 1986 on Apollo Records) and the above-mentioned self-titled LP.
Virtually unknown until now have been five more pieces that were released by the band in 1983 and 1984 on two cassettes named "YoplaBoum" and "Permanent Wave", in editions of 25 and 30 copies, respectively. They are re-released here for the first time, with a double LP featuring the whole "YoplaBoum" cassette – the 43-minute title piece split across the first two sides, the two others on sides C and D – and a CD including the two tracks from "Permanent Wave".
The double LP is housed in a single sleeve with two printed inner sleeves featuring liner notes by Leon van Noorden and Mario van Horrik, and a selection of photos and artwork from the period. The CD comes in its own cardboard sleeve and is attached to the outer LP sleeve with a removable glue dot. Edition of 300.
33,00€
In stock
LP
MACIUNAS ENSEMBLE
s/t
The Maciunas Ensemble was founded in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, in 1968 as a free improvisational music group that set out to realize the score "Music for Everyman" by Fluxus initiator George Maciunas, which they interpreted as allowing total freedom in the sounds being produced. In the mid-1980s, after a number of personnel changes, the group settled on the line-up of artists Paul Panhuysen and Mario van Horrik, musician Jan van Riet, and scientist Leon van Noorden, which remained stable until Panhuysen's death in 2015. The group met and played on a regular basis, usually improvising on instruments that were at hand and recording every session. Before playing the next session, the previous recording was listened to and discussed. In 1980, the Eindhoven art initiative Het Apollohuis, also the home of Panhuysen and his family, became their home base, a place that subsequently gained fame for being one of the first and longest-running venues for sound art and experimental music in Europe.
In the recent years, the Maciunas Ensemble has begun to go through its vast archive of recordings and to select material for publication that remained unreleased so far. The first bundle of archival recordings, dating from 1968 to 1980, was released on an 11-CD set on Apollo Records in 2012. For their 50th anniversary in 2018, the second part of archival recordings is to be published, its first instalment being this LP on Edition Telemark comprising unreleased tracks recorded between 1982 and 2012. More archival material will be released in digital format by the ensemble.
This LP allows a glimpse into the musical directions the Maciunas Ensemble has been undergoing during those 30 years. Side A features "Ice Cream Man" and "Toxic Metals", two repetitive, thundering tracks from the early 1980s played on guitar, piano, and cello, and heavily inspired by minimalist rock and post-punk music. Side B contains four shorter tracks: "Russolution" (1985), played on self-built aluminium monochords, "Stamples" (2002), employing sampled voices, and "ZENder" (2009) and "Dèdeboum" (2012), both improvised tracks on vocals and a number of instruments.
Regular edition of 250 in brown Kraftpak sleeve with printed inner sleeve containing various photos of the ensemble and liner notes by Mark van de Voort and Werner Durand.
21,50€